A survey by Statistics Canada has found nearly 1,000 members of the Canadian military reported being sexually assaulted in the last year.

That number represents about 1.7 per cent of military personnel in the Canadian armed forces – almost double the comparable rate for the general population.

(Credit: Stats Canada)

The most common form of sexual assault experienced by members was unwanted sexual touching.

It says full-time female members were four times more likely to be assaulted than their male counterparts, and 49 per cent of women were most likely to identify their supervisor or someone of a higher rank as their perpetrator.

The study also found that more than 25 per cent of women reported having been victims of sexual assault at least once since joining the Canadian Armed Forces, significantly higher than the proportion of men.

(Credit: Stats Canada)

Some of the behaviours measured by the survey were sexual assault, inappropriate sexual behaviours, inappropriate verbal or non-verbal communication, discriminatory behaviours, and sexually explicit materials.